2026 01 12 – Getting Rolling Again

 And for some reason Wix is cropping the images weirdly. This is from the prompt “pierce” for Inktober 2025

Well, definitely need to figure out what to do about my training area whenever guests come to stay at the house. Couldn’t believe that I hadn’t advanced my weapon form numbers when I went to update them for this blog. The only place where there is room to put a bed for guests is in the training room, but then it tends to stay there. I need to fix this! At least my hand form, which still needs more going over, I’m able to do elsewhere in the house, but there aren’t many places to swing a staff without hitting things.

After being sick the stamina and cardio aren’t what they were (not that it was great then), but it’s getting better. Muscles are complaining about being put back to more regular use, which is a good thing since it means training is resuming, slowly.

I’m hoping to get back to doing the 1000 modified pushups and sit-ups per week. That seemed to work well for me most weeks when I purposely set that weekly goal before.

Reading a book called How to Read a Book, which I’m hoping will teach me to get more out of the books that I read for self-improvement, learning, etc. Some things I already knew, such as that most people don’t know how to read beyond a grade six level (probably hasn’t changed much since the book was last published), and that you should scan through the book prior to reading it in detail. Specifically determining the writer’s terms was new-ish to me. I say that because I’m familiar with Voltaire’s quote:

“If you wish to converse with me, define your terms”

Since no two humans always define the same words the exact same way, this makes sense. I’m looking forward to learning the things I may not know such as what the author means by synoptic reading, and how to read different types of literature. Something I thought I would never do is learn the incredible value of marginalia and making marks and notes directly in the books themselves. Still can’t bring myself to do it in pen though, so pencil it is.

Year to Date Numbers

Pushups (modified): 10548 / 50,000

Situps (modified): 10200 / 50,000

Weapon Form: 319 / 1000

Hand Form: 253 /1000

Random Acts of Kindness: 214 / 1000

Sparring: 234 / 1000

Kilometres: 1260 / 1609

Memorize “Mastery”: I wonder if I put this in a note on my phone, that I can review, if I would remember to work on this more consistently.

Nurture Relationships: nothing to report this week

Blogging: 39 / 52

Art Like it is My Job: 112 / 252 days.

Declutter my life: did a declutter of a full set of kitchen cupboards. Otherwise just maintenance.

Greatcoat project:

Improved flexibility: